have water, will play

Vivo City

basically we will go anywhere there's water

7 feet

Our Christmas tree in US was a whooping 1 foot tall. It was not too bad, considering the fact that it was an optic fibre tree which we decorated with red apples. Jerald would pick apples from the trees every other day. =) Oh well, there were only so many things we could do in winter at home.

J decided that our Ikea tree wasn't much of a tree. It had no points, was like a "dress" that we would "drop" from the top & it unfolded itself. The boys enjoyed "dressing" it up. For the 1st time in our life, our tree could actually be fully dressed.

Alpha would tear open presents under our tree, push the tree over, chase baubles around the house, pull ornaments from the lower branches, shred a whole box of tissue so we could have a white christmas. Our "xiao bai" was such a white bundle of mischief.

lazy days

school holidays have sneaked up on us. ok, to be honest, we had been looking forward to it. =) so J's at home more often. with him at home, the boys always find it hard to nap. they would be pestering him, "what can we do?" "i've nothing to do."

they know mummy cannot drive. the most i can do for them is to bring them on a bus ride to sembawang shopping center - splash park, playground, Giant, pet store to see the jumping hamster, sun plaza (shopping mall)'s library, post office, NTUC, or an MRT ride to Grandma's house.

7.5 months & going

Why is she wearing a hat at home? She just came home from a sunny day outside. Weekdays are busy days for her. Sending one big brother to school after another. Coming home for milk, quick nap (if any), simmering in the heat of the kitchen while Mummy cooks & off to another fetching one big brother from school after another.

Updates :

Loves to smile, laugh aloud, play peek-a-boo, say "ah mmmm". food!

Latest trick :

Make a "putttttttt" sound that sounds like a fart.

on our way to the dining table

all ready to eat with aunt lorraine's bib

peeling & grating grapes to add in her cereal

pardon the photos. i don't seem to be able to rotate it. sigh, i'm such an IT goon.

adele just turned 6 mths. the last few wk she was started on semi solids. the boys were so excited to help. mummy's earnest little helpers.

heel

don't walk on the grass, u naughty dog.

walk properly, your leash is tangled

quite a pro. jerald : blessing is a good dog. alpha is a naughty dog. he keeps going to the grass & pass urine everywhere.

1st time walking the dogs. a little awed.

instead of ah-gong taking the dogs for a walk, we thought it'll be a good experience for the boys to do so. they were as excited as the dogs. we felt it was a time of good bonding. ends well with a bowl of cold cheng teng.

botanical gardens water play

the much talked about new wing of botanical gardens. i guess our expectations were high, after having gone to the one in zoo. imagine our great disappointment with what we saw. but as long as the boys were happy, i guess we are too.

adele? basking in the heat while her brothers had a cool, splashing time. poor girl.

giveaway

took too long for this post.

lorraine's giveaway

hehhe. best part of this lovely wallet other than the luck to win it, the S$2 tucked in for gd luck so my wallet will always be full, the girly floral design is the many pockets for cards!

enough space for friends of the zoo, ezlink, safra (yet to go to jurong safra to check out biggest indoor playgrd for kids), ocbc baby bonus card (can deduct infant injections & sch fees for childcare), credit cards & driving licence (hard earned but not well utilised)

ni hao

wo shi yi ge xiao hua jia - pasting chinese characters to pictures

yi fu yi fu zuo mi chang - identifying simple clothing & accessories

jerome: i'm not chinese, i'm american

J & i have always been concerned about the boys understanding mandarin but not speaking it. back in US, we did teach them to count from one to ten & name some vital body parts. other than that, what they learnt from largely from taiwanese cartoon "ni hao kai lan" & listening to J & i speak. their friends then were largely ang mo. for the simple reason that they could not communicate with the chinese speaking asian kids.

we were pleasantly surprised to find nice chinese books in the library. simple enough to understand, fun with flaps to lift, riddles to guess, tons of animals

i extended the books into follow up activities for them. surprisely, they were able to link the words to pictures. looks like there's still hope.

jerald's sch teaches mandarin as well, in songs, poems, stories & it has been fun to hear him sing about how dragonflies are like planes & how fireflies are like lanterns.

what do we do all day

it's too hot to wear clothes in singapore, mummy. this is not america.

painting with water on the chalkboard. alright, i confess. it's a ploy to get them to clean up the chalk mess

jerald's school ends half an hour before jerome's so it's usually time at the playground next to his school followed by a little snack on the bench outside jerome's school
pardon the lousy photography skills. she looks cuter than this. little one waiting patiently in the kitchen while i whip up a one dish meal for lunch. she prefers to be in the warm kitchen than in the cool room by herself. so the little dear keeps me company - cooing in her rocker

friends have asked if i'm bored staying home with the kids. hmm, gd question. not yet, i usually reply. when u get bored, i'll just go back to work. gd answer?

there are tempting times no doubt, when the kids all want a bit of me, all at the same time or when discipline needs to be carried out or feeding *yikes! the worst bit of my job as stay at home mum*. the temptation is usually diminished by some great act from the kids.

jerome : (settles in my lap with a book)can u read me a bedtime story before i sleep?

jerald : can u hold my hand? (must hold hands before he sleeps)

adele : (waking up from a nap) daze turns into a smile when she registers my face, little fingers wrapped around mine.

sigh, i think i'll just stay home a little while longer...

gratefully unemployed

homemade dough - cheap n fun! ted says they hone fine motor skills. easy - flour n hot water!

This is the start of the 3rd week of school & my 2nd month .staying home with the kids in SG. I am beginning to understand L's description of herself - "gratefully unemployed".

I am grateful for

- sundays nights without having to write lesson plans

- no longer craving for more cute stickers or stamps for students' assignments

- the luxury of ironing n dressing the kids up in their school uniform

- holding their hands as i walk them to school

- chatting with them about their day

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Jerome : My teacher says all green apples are sour. that's not true.

me : (US has many varieties of apples. There's a green species called Granny Smith that has a tangy taste but is not sour.) Well, MOST green apples are sour.

Wow! This is the start of his journey into Science. "All" versus "most". Learning about exceptions.

------------

Jerald : Those birds have yellow beaks & yellow feet. They are mynahs. The dog is going for a walk. Hello, dog. I see my friend going to school. She goes to Tots House too.

M : How do you know?

J : She wears the same uniform.

A walk to his school after dropping Jerome off at his school is almost like a nature walk cum learning journey. He would do a running commentary of what he sees. If only time would stop then - us holding hands as we walk & talk. But I know he, too, would soon grow up. Too fast. Too soon.

I'll cherish the days while it's still not un-cool to hold my hand, give bear hugs & sweet kisses.

lucky lucky

I should feel so lucky. To date I have never been very lucky in lucky draws. But hey! I actually won something(s) from US. Yipee!

I have yet to take a pic of the wallet I won from Lorraine's craft blog. Shame on me. Despite using it since it arrived... If you are reading this, you must request that winners email you a picture of them using it in future. hehehhe.

Which is why I am putting up this post with the boys using the fabric bag I won from The Green Lady, upon her request that winners email her pictures of us using her bags. She sews & gives away fabric bags. What a lovely way to do her part for Mother Earth. To date, it has been a beach bag, swimming bag, grocery bag & now the boys have adopted it as their library bag as it's lightweight & easy for them to handle. No worries about them pulling it apart either since it's fabric.

Friends of the Zoo

Even when we were in US, we already knew one of the 1st few things we would do as a family was to sign up for FOZ (Friends of the Zoo). What we did not expect was the amount of fun we would eventually get to enjoy.

For a $180 family membership for a year, we had already "broke even" today when we made our 3rd trip in 6 weeks (since we came home). Yipee! The boys love the Water Play area so much. Each trip was to go & have a splashing good time.

There's also a Playground to cool off.

The 1st time we went, we only managed to look at the exhibits. There was no time or energy for Water Play. The 2nd time we went, it was in the evening. The water features had already been turned off. The boys still had a good time though.

The 3rd time we went (Today, give me some time to download the pictures) was absolutely the best. The weather was cloudy so there were probably less people than usual. The boys really had a lot of fun. Going up & down the slides, splashing in the shallow water, shooting huge water jets, listening out for the bell - afterwhich a HUGE bucket of water would tip over from above & get us all wet.

Hmm, what are we going to do with our SAFRA membership since the boys are probably going to ask to go to the Zoo every Sat morning now? The plan then was to enjoy the SAFRA Yishun water slides. Sigh, looks like we really have to go check out the SAFRA Jurong to make our membership worth.

Adele? As usual, our little dear nursed & slept while her boys played. Our little pink angel.